


Don't

by hrhowling



Series: Who Said Life was Easy? [3]
Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, WSLwE, post-TDOTL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 23:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11300727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hrhowling/pseuds/hrhowling
Summary: Don't think about your family





	Don't

**Author's Note:**

> Why do I love to put Ravel through all this pain?
> 
> This is a little plot bunny that hopped into my head , so I just got it out quickly before it disappeared. Takes place in the same universe as WSLwE, but can be read as a standalone. Enjoy, I guess.

Don’t think about your family.

The one you pushed away because you were convinced that they wouldn’t understand. Don’t think about the reality; that you drove a rift between you and them because you were scared they’d get hurt if you stayed too close to them.

Don’t think about the disappointment you see whenever you picture your father’s face. Or the disgust in the eyes of your sisters when they eventually do visit you in prison. Don’t think about the silence between yourself and your mother in the visiting room, and the way you both sit there for hours and you don’t dare look at her.

Don’t think about how, when she gets up to leave, you finally ask,  
“Why did you keep me?”

Because although this was the woman you used to call ‘mama’ and come crying to when you had nightmares, this wasn’t the woman who’d given birth to you. You’d been the product of a troubled marriage and a spiteful affair, yet when your mother arrived in a February storm and died within hours of your birth, this was the woman who’d stubbornly decided to keep you as her own. This was the woman who’d loved you and raised you, given you a name and a family crest to call your own. This is the woman you’d forsaken for the sake of revenge.

Don’t think about how much this hurts you now.

For a long time, she just stands there, half out of her chair, her back turned. You don’t dare look up at her.

“I looked into the future, and I saw gold,” she says.

You feel your hands curl up into fists. Is that all you’d been? A shiny trophy? A potential conversation starter?

“I saw gold, and blood, and fire. I saw pain. But first and foremost, I saw a child.”

Don’t think about the sadness in her voice, or the way your heart twists.

“I saw a brave, sweet young man get torn apart and left to put himself back together. I saw him come back crooked and bitter.”

Is that what she thinks of you? Broken? Shameful?

“I wanted to protect him from that. And so the child became my child. I loved him and gave him everything I could in the hope that it would save him. I saw his future become shrouded and foolishly thought that I’d saved him, that I didn’t have to worry. I was wrong.”

Don’t think about the tears you feel behind your eyes.

“I’m sorry I didn’t do more, Midas.”

Don’t think about how long that poor boy has been dead.

“Goodbye, Erskine.”

Don’t think about the edge to her voice when she says your name.

Don’t think about how you’re not her child anymore.

Dont…

Just… just don’t.


End file.
